Monday, August 06, 2007

FROM RUSSIA - WITH LOVE?

Moscow Mayor Luzhkov's proposal of mandatory testing of students for illicit drugs has now been endorsed by "Russia's chief sanitary doctor," Gennady Orishchenko. Whatever rationale might be offered for this approach in societies that make treatment for drug dependence available to those who want and need it does not apply in Russia, where there's essentially no addiction treatment for anyone. Locked-ward cold turkey detoxification is about as close to "treatment" as one finds in that country, where the prevalence of opiate dependence is estimated to be as high as two million. (RIA Novosti, 27 July 07)